This is the terror--aka puppy--I am dogsitting this week. His name is Brady (as in Tom Brady) and he is 5 months old, I believe. He belongs to my Dad's family. As you can see, my dog Molly--the black one who is 11 years old--is not impressed by his antics...
I have always been a Susan Grant fan girl ever since I first read her RITA award winning book CONTACT. And I devoured her innovative 2176 series a few years back. Now she's back again with a sexy out of this world romp, "My Favorite Earthling" -- given 4 1/2 stars by Romantic Times Magazine. LOVE the cover and I can't wait to read what's inside the book!
I don't subscribe to cable, but as I'm dogsitting at my dad's this week, I've been keeping the TV on to see what I've been missing. I've watched THE HILLS (is that a reality show or a drama--I can't tell...) MY SUPER SWEET SIXTEEN (o.m.g. this IS a reality show. Which means these girls really exist!!!), 90210 (yay repeats on the Soap channel!), and other junk. Let's just say I probably won't be hooking up cable in NYC anytime soon. Oh, and I watched Before Sunrise, which I hadn't seen in years, as my stepsister had it on DVD. I think I understand that movie a lot more than I did when I originally watched it in like high school. It's pretty beautiful and sad and the characters are really realistic--flawed, yet honestly portrayed and not romanticized too much. Now I want to check out the sequel, which I heard was good.
NH is pretty quiet, which means I'm able to get a lot of writing done. I've finished my middle-grade proposal - 50 pages and a synopsis - and will probably be passing it into my agent tomorrow. Then I guess I'll write my 4th vampire book proposal. You see, I don't want to start my new book "The Camelot Code" until I do the revisions for the two books I passed in because I hate to keep switching projects. But at the same time I want to take advantage of my time off. So we'll see...
Argh the puppy is whining again. Did I mention he needed to be taken out like EVERY HOUR?!?
Sigh.
Marianne
So a lot of you probably remember right before I moved out of my Concord home, lightning struck my house and burned it to the ground. Well, on Thursday night I had a scary deja vu all over again moment when I was returning from a going away party down the street only to find my neighborhood blocked off by firetrucks, the smell of smoke, news vans everywhere. I ran the rest of the way home, my heart thudding in my chest as I had to take detours to get around all the blocked streets and gathered crowd. All I could think of was what if my building was on fire just before I moved out AGAIN!?!? And this time my dog was inside!!!
Anyway, it turned out, the building DIRECTLY ACROSS THE STREET FROM ME was on fire - a six alarm blaze that ended up costing $1.5 million in damage and displaced a bunch of poor people. (Luckily, no one was hurt, though they said if it were later at night, it would have been a different story.)
Argh.
Anyway, I did move all my stuff out the next morning and I'm safe and sound at my dad's for the week before heading off to NYC. But I feel so sad for all the displaced people on Endicott Street in the North End. I know that horrible, sick feeling to realize you've just lost everything you own in one night. Bleh.
Mar
Today as part of the Out of the Blogosphere blog tour (and because I'm too tired from moving my stuff out of my apartment to type something original!) I give you Vivi Anna's Blood Secrets - one of the new Silhouette Nocture books. I think you'll agree, it sounds really cool -think CSI with vamps....And what a hot cover!
Well, I'm about done packing. Tomorrow AM my dad will be showing up bright and early to lug my stuff to New Hampshire where I will hang out for a week, waiting for my NYC apartment to be ready to move into. Phew.
I'm also now 35 pages into my new YA proposal. **happy dance!** I gotta say, though I enjoyed writing my kick-butt action adventure Moongazer, it's also fun to go back to being a teen again. :) For some reason YA writing just comes so naturally to me. It's like breathing and I sometimes can't even type fast enough to keep up with my ideas. And no, please don't remind me it's likely cause I never grew up!! But hey, whatever works, right?
Tonight, some work colleagues are having a going away thing for me at Anthem. Should be fun!! I need to shower first, though! I'm all grubby from packing!!
When stalling with packing I've been searching online for space saving storage type furniture, as my new apartment is a studio and thus small. I came across this from Pottery Barn:
I hate packing.
I HATE PACKING.
I HATE PACKING!!!!!!
HATE IT, I TELL YOU!!!!!
How do you people will full houses and kids manage to move? I have a tiny freaking one bedroom apartment and a year and a half ago all my stuff went up in flames so it's not even filled with priceless timeless relics. And yet it feels like a neverending pit of stuff!!!! I can't take it. I am going insane. I've thrown half of it out. How did I amass such clutter in such a short time?
I even wrote 12 PAGES of my new YA proposal today simply because I wanted to avoid packing. Hm, maybe a new strategy. Have a deadline? MOVE HOUSES! Nothing has ever motivated me more to write!!
The good news: the proposal rocks. And at this pace I should be done with it by the end of the week. Woot! Agent will be very pleased.
The bad news: packing is not. And dad is coming at 9am Friday morning to cart it all to his house to store before my move. Sigh. Dad will NOT be very pleased.
Seriously, I'm glad I like my new apartment cause I am NEVER EVER LEAVING IT!!!! I will die in that place and people can drag my stuff out along with my corpse.
Just sayin'
Mar
Four quick things:
1) I found out I double finaled in the Gayle Wilson Award of Excellence RWA writing contest for BOYS THAT BITE and STAKE THAT! Woot!! My dear friends Barb Ferrer and Simone Elkeles also finaled!! So I'm in very good company!!
2) I did a bit of a website re-design to focus more on the upcoming SHOMI books. Check it out if you have a sec.
3) I just returned from watching FACTORY GIRL. It was really good. Sad, tragic, but beautiful.
4) I just dragged half of the contents of my apartment down to the trash. But considering my NYC apartment is about half the size, I think I'm justified. My new New Year's resolution? Less clutter!!!
:)
MAR
So today is my 2nd day home between jobs -- though day #1 doesn't really count cause it was a holiday and lots of friends were home too so I was able to socialize and see people just like it was another weekend day. But now everyone's back to work and I'm officially going crazy sitting home. I don't know how you full time writers do it. :) I thought it'd be great to take two weeks off - now I have no idea how I'll ever survive.
Perhaps my anxiety is not stemmed from being home, but from guilt that I am not packed yet. My house is torn apart, suffering from half-packed syndrome and because I can't put trash out til 6pm tonight half the apartment has been designated a "stuff I need to throw away" dump. Not exactly a feng shui enviornment to relax in.
I did, however, finally turn in MOONGAZER to my editor!! Woot!! Book #8 down!! I'm really happy with how it turned out, too. Cheer! And this morning I wrote the synopsis for a new proposal I'm working on. Would love to have that done by the end of the week. Though I gotta say, it's more than a bit weird to switch gears from adult kick-butt post apocalyptic romance to a young contemp YA style. That's why I decided to tackle the synopsis first. I'll work on the actual chapters a little later today--maybe after a little YA reading to get back into the groove.
And by the way - if anyone's curious of the key to solving writing procrastination? It's moving. Writing > packing everytime!
:)
Mar
Today's my second to last day at work at my old job. Crazy. It's going to seem strange to leave here - after having been here five days a week for the last five years. But I am excited to be moving on to bigger and better things in the Big Apple!
I am ALMOST done writing Moongazer. Sooo soo close. Okay, technically I am done, but I can't help revising and revising. I want it to be perfect when I pass it in. At some point I realize I have to let go. Otherwise it'll never get on store shelves. But it's my baby, so I want to make it as perfect as possible before I sent it out into the world.
I'm going to be pretty busy this weekend - going out dancing at"90s night" (yes, 90s music is now considered retro!) with some old high school friends. Saturday I'm having lunch with my aunt. Sunday I have my last New England RWA meeting **sniff**. Monday my dad's coming down to help me start packing up. Then I have a week in Boston with nothing to do but pack and write. That should be nice. :)
Then it's off to NYC to begin a new chapter of my life!! It'll be a little strange, of course, this is the first time I've ever moved someplace without dragging a bf type along with me, but I have lots of dear friends in the city and so it's not like I'll be alone. And I'm sure I'll meet people, too. Yup, from now on life's going to be one big Sex and the City episode for me. haha. Can't wait! :)
Mar
Today we've got a werewolf/Scottish highlander tale on the Out of the Blogosphere tour...
An enthralling new romantic tale that pushes the boundaries between love and hate, passion and pain-and man and beast...
When Emily Hamilton's family is ordered to send a woman to the Scottish highlands for marriage to the laird of the Sinclair, Emily volunteers in order to save her younger sister from such a fate. But at her new home, the only friend she finds is the laird's sister-especially after Emily's stubborn streak causes the laird to cancel the marriage. And though her plans have gone awry, she refuses to return home...
Lachlan Balmoral is laird of his clan-and leader of his pack. One of the most feared werewolves prowling the Highlands, he is on the march against the hated Sinclair, who have abducted a Balmoral woman. He kidnaps the sister of the Sinclair laird, planning to marry her off in revenge-but the woman he takes along with her proves to be the greater prize...
For Emily feeds a desire he has never known existed. And though Lachlan would not think of touching his enemy's betrothed, he must know how a mere woman could tame his heart so easily...
Check out an excerpt here!
I'll be guest blogging today over at Romance B(u)y The Book. Pop on by if you get a chance and leave a comment so I look popular! Hm...not enough enticement? Well, I'm also giving away free books and my publisher Dorchester is doing a giveaway as well!
Mar
So I survived my weekend in NYC apartment hunting. I even managed to have a little fun while I was there!!
On Friday, I looked at two apartments on the Upper West Side - one on 81st and Columbus and one on 106/West End Drive. The first apartment was cute and in a good area- but a bit run down and also wasn't available until April. Not good since my job starts March 5th! The second was a very well maintained beautiful studio in a nice building, but it was a bit above my price range and no laundry in the building. Seems like if I'm going to spend extra each month I deserve laundry!
But I wasn't too worried. I had more appointments the next day. So on Friday night I crashed the SCBWI VIP cocktail event with my writer friend Charlene. (She was attending the conference, but I was not.) I got to meet my new editor at Dutton, Sara Shumway, who seems really nice. Can't wait to start working with her.
Saturday I met up with another agent, Caroline Bass from Citi-Habitats. GREAT realtor. She totally rocks and made the whole process a ton of fun. We looked at a lot of places. None of them were dumpy, but some were TINY! I mean, you could barely fit a bed for $1,900 a month! I was starting to get worried, as you can imagine. But she assured me she had one "special" apartment that she was saving til last. It was a rare vacancy in this dog-friendly high-rise and she had an exclusive on it. The girl who was supposed to rent it had gotten sick and couldn't take it after all. Since I had gotten Caroline's name through a special referral by someone who was close to the owner, she was going to show it to me.
Well, let me tell you I was not disappointed! The apartment is adorable. A large ninth floor studio facing the street, very well maintained with crown moldings, high beamed ceilings, and beautiful hardwood floors. It's in a fancy doorman/elevator pre-war building with laundry and accepts all dogs. And the best part - it's on 72nd and Central Park West - an awesome neighborhood half a block from the park and the express train. It couldn't be a more perfect spot for me.
As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to have it. So I filled out the application, put down the deposit and crossed my fingers. I didn't even go to my 2nd realtor appointment. I had my mind made up. This apartment was MINE. That night I went out to dinner - a delish Italian place 80s/Columbus - and drank at this amazing little basement Moroccan bar with some friends. My friends kept saying "Oh, you'll have this in your neighborhood, etc." which started freaking me out - like, what if I don't get it?!!?
But like romance novels, this story has a happy ending. The next morning the realtor called and said the apartment was all mine - just come down and sign the lease and produce exorbitant amounts of money. I did and then headed back to Boston on the train, happy and excited.
Success! And beyond my wildest expectations. I never thought I'd find such a perfect place in such a great neighborhood. Moving to NYC is going to be sooo much fun!
:)
Marianne
Sorry I didn't post yesterday. Life has been a bit of a whirlwind lately with my impending move.
STUFF DONE:
* Accepted new job
* Gave notice at old job
* Found someone to rent my Boston apartment
* Finished 2nd draft of Moongazer
STUFF TO BE DONE BY MARCH 5th
* Find new apartment (attempting to do that this weekend!)
* Pack things (this is one time I am glad for the fire last year because I don't have a ton of junk to pack anymore!)
* Move (either by self/friends or with movers depending on affordibility and timing)
* Polish Moongazer to perfection and send in to editor
* Do revisions on Moongazer after editor reads it
* Do revisions on Girls that Growl, which should come in soon
* Write proposal for next YA vampire book
Hm...my TBD list is a lot longer than my "done" list. Of course. Oh well, one thing at a time. Most important will be finding that little closet in Manhattan to call my own. The realtors have been a bit discouraging about me finding dog friendly places. But I'm trying to stay optimistic. In any case, I just keep reminding myself that I'm going to be living my dream and a little stress now will lead to a big pay-off later. :) And that moving to NYC isn't that much different than moving elsewhere-which I've done many times before. It just SEEMS daunting cause it's NYC. But it'll all be fine in the end. In fact, it'll likely be great!
Marianne
Today on Out of the Blogosphere we have a kick ass urban fantasy by Chris Marie Green. It's called Night Rising and is publsihed by ACE.
Check out the trailer!
...at Author MBA. It's on making a MySpace page work for you. If you've been interested in setting up an author MySpace page but weren't sure how to begin, this will walk you through it. Check it out if you get a chance!
Also, if you're a WoW player (or know someone who is) I suggest you check out Diana Peterfreund's excellent blog explaining Goal/Motivation/Conflict by using the World of Warcraft PvP system. Most excellent. :)
I'm pleased to announce that yes, A Hoboken Hipster in Sherwood Forest - the fab sequel to A Connecticut Fashionista in King Arthur's Court - is indeed still for sale!! haha. If you haven't bought your copy, what are you waiting for? (I'll lay off soon, I promise, but remember, for authors that first week of "on sale" is the most important!!)
I'm not the only one in new cover land. Gena Showalter posts two HOT ones on her blog for her books Red Handed and Black Listed. Love 'em. And on the YA end of things, Ally Carter posts the cover for her upcoming book "Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy." It's very similar to the first book in the series, but I think this one is a bit more striking cause of the black. And lastly, I can't remember if I pimped out Liz Maverick's Shomi cover for WIRED. Even if I did, it's worth a second look cause it's so kick ass.
That's all for now. Will be back later to plug a book for the Out of the Blogosphere book tour! :) And it's a good one!
:)
MARIANNE
